Mobile IT

Hey all,

i'm calling on anyone who has an interest in Mobile IT especially in the construction Industry.

I'm doing a dissertation on the subject and just want some replies from people who don't mind me calling on them if i need help/advice/or info.

i know a lot of people on here are Techies and their help would be fantasmatic (my own work )

i know BigAPe is on Skype and i will be soon, so i'm thinking of things like Voice Over IP (Internet) as well as PDA and wearable computers and general construction processes that might be improved by these technologies, such as wifi and all sorts of integrated systems

Thanks for humouring me

-Carl

[timwilky]

Carl

I have deployed IT solutions to assist the construction industy on a number of large projects. These have included the first privately owned VSAT earth station in China for the 3*660MW Power Plant at Shajio, part of this setup incuded the multiplexing of voice and data, thus enabling handsets on the desktop to be "long line extensions" of the office PBX back in Manchester. The cost justification for the VSAT was based on data so voice provided a £120,000 project saving on international telephony.

Guys were able to call their wives in the UK for the cost of a uk national call and more importantly the wives were able to contact husbands. No waiting for availabilty of international lines etc. So guys far less likely to walk off site.

We deployed similar VSAT solution to the Sual 2*660 MW in the Philippines although because the local PTT would not permit (Commercial reasons) private earth stations we had to rent our own kit provided to the local PTT. again voice and data.

For later projects I have then been able to use frame relay as circuits became available to the Daya Bay 2 nuclear power plant in Guangdong China, and the Ho Ping Power Plant in Taiwan. Both of these I used VOIP gateways at either end of the circuit. For the Manjung Power Plant in Malaysia with a large amount of "localisation" I had to buy frame relay circuits for Malaysia and thuis ended up with malysian supplied Nortel routers with voice supplied by a card into the PBX at Manchester and the router in Malaysia also acting as a local PBX.

So voice onto construction sites has been used well for the past 15 years on large construction projects. Data requirements have also grown. In the early days we had problems with obtaining lines. for instance in the UK BT would not provide comms lines onto a "Hot" site without isolation, for voice it was not a problem as local pbx would be fed off fibre, but ISDN 2 circuits were still delivered on copper and could not be isolated.


On site communications itself have traditionally been a problem. We used to deploy point to point radio links for remote stores as you could never guarentee that any cable accross the site would last the project. The problem being somebody would build a damm big power station in the middle of the line of sight.

We have also deployed laser point to point to link temporary portacabins with plant control rooms.

mobile improvements have included the ability to link bar codes on boxes back to ruggedised computers with enough capability to then be able to tell goods recieving guys what is in the box without having to find the packing list etc. This is very important when shipping large volumes of bits. You want to get it off the ship as quick as possible and through the local customs. Once the customs start to appreciate your system, they can walk upto a box, point at it and in seconds you are able to tell them the contents and 9 times out of 10 they will not insist on opening it. Should improve even further with RFID.

The whole ethos we used with data on site is management by exception. For instance, goods recieving. We tell the site electonically what they are to recieve on a shipment. ie what bits are in what box, in which container on which shipment. when the shipment arrives they do not have to tell the stores system what they have recieved, they simply acknowledge recipt of the container/case etc. a simple swipe. We then know what they have not recieved. Especially useful when it is not unknown for a container to get washed over the side of a ship.

The same with the management of piping etc. By knowing what you have in your stores and the project timelines, you can get your spools fabricated without half way through the process finding a bit is yet to arrive on site etc.

RFID is going to really help the construction industry identify and manage stock


Enough BS. Want any more give me a shout

thanks tim, i'll have a read and i'll comeback to you if i have any question

i knew someone on here would be just as sad as me

Carl,

i'm an architect and end up being an end user of some of the mobile comms on site, with varying successes.

we now regularly use internet portal to issue and comment on drawings. With connections in all of the site offices. Works quite well, although usually takes each sub-contracting company about 4 weeks to get the hang of the system. So you end up with lots drawings rejected by Document control in the first instance. after that it works pretty well. So not very good with a sub-contractor who only has a short contract..

We have recently used tablet PC's on site to fill out a database form recording defects and snags. this worked quite well, but was a tad time consuming. Previously we have done the same but onto paper and used data entry staff to transfer it into the data base... Both of these systems end up being a little bit slow in the real world. By the time you've recorded the defect, uploaded onto the database, the sub-contractor has downloaded and then actioned it.. its a two week process.

if you have any questions about the useability of proposals i'm more than happy to comment.

regards

Karl